Third contractor appointed in multi-million pound A14 improvement project for Cambridgeshire

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The third construction contractor has been appointed in a multi-million pound project to improve the A14 from Cambridge to Huntingdon.

As part of the five-year Road Investment Strategy, the Government has pledged up to £1.5 billion to improve the A14 in Cambridgeshire.

Today (Monday) Balfour Beatty Carillion joint venture was awarded a package to widen the existing road from Swavesey to Milton. Subject to the scheme being given the go-ahead, the joint venture will deliver £292 million of construction work.

It joins two other joint venture contractors appointed by Highways England in June – one to deign the improvements and the second to construct two sections of the scheme.

Subject to decisions by the Planning Inspectorate and the Transport Secretary regarding the development consent order application, construction on the scheme is set to start in late 2016, with the new bypass and widened A14 opening to traffic in 2020.

Chris Taylor, director for complex infrastructure at Highways England, leading the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme, said: “This award is another step closer to our commitment to deliver the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme.

“Now all three joint venture contractors are on-board, they will work collaboratively to finalise the pre-construction planning, to deliver the excellence that our customers and stakeholders expect of us.

“While we appreciate our planning application is yet to be fully examined by the Planning Inspectorate and we are yet to receive permission to start construction, this third appointment will add to the support we need to prepare for works getting underway on time and to budget.”

Julian Lamb, Balfour Beatty Carillion joint venture project leader, said: “We are pleased to have been selected to deliver this complex project which will provide an important upgrade to a key part of the UK’s road network and provide an important boost to the regional and national economy.

“The ability of the joint venture partners to work as part of an integrated delivery model will be crucial in successfully carrying out this work.”

Due to the size of the project, it was broken down into development (detailed design and pre-construction) and delivery phases, with construction of the proposed scheme split into four packages of work.

In June, the detailed design contract was awarded to Atkins CH2M joint venture at a total cost of £35.3 million.

Costain Skanska Joint venture were awarded construction package one, covering A1 at Alconbury to the East Coast Mainline, and package two, covering east of the East Coast Mainline to Swavesey. The value of the pre-construction phase was £1m. Subject to the scheme being given the go ahead, the joint venture will deliver £598m of construction work.

The fourth package, for the demolition of the viaduct over the East Coast Mainline at Huntingdon and associated works, will be awarded in 2019.